Users of modern public washroom facilities increasingly desire that each of the fixtures in the washroom operate automatically without being touched by the user's hands. This is important in view of increased user awareness of the degree to which germs and bacteria may be transmitted from one person to another in a public washroom environment. Today, it is not uncommon to find public washrooms with automatic, hands-free operated toilet and urinal units, hand washing faucets, soap dispensers, hand dryers and door opening mechanisms. This automation allows the user to avoid touching any of the fixtures in the facility, and therefore lessens the opportunity for the transmission of disease carrying germs or bacteria resulting from manual contact with the fixtures in the washroom.
It is also required that counter-mounted fluid soap dispensers in public washrooms include a soap reservoir that is readily replaceable when empty, and is inexpensive to manufacture and maintain. Therefore, it is desirable that the soap reservoir include a container that is easy to install in association with the permanent elements of the soap dispensing fixture, is held fast to the fixture, and is easy to remove from the fixture when empty, and functions in coordination with the operating elements of the fluid soap dispenser.
It is also desirable that a soap reservoir include a fluid soap delivery system that ensures the delivery of a uniform measured dose of fluid soap to a user upon each automatic actuation of the fixture. The reservoir and pump assembly must function as a unitary device to deliver consistent measures of fluid soap from the reservoir to the user.
Several automatically operated washroom fluid soap dispensers have been developed, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,967,935 (Celest), U.S. Pat. No. 4,938,384 (Pilolla), U.S. Pat. No. 4,921,150 (Lagargren), U.S. Pat. No. 4,722,372 (Hoffman), and U.S. Pat. No. 4,645,094 (Acklin), by way of example. However, these devices do not incorporate structural elements that desirably provide consistent operation, ease of installation and replaceability, and low cost of manufacture.